Hardwired
by emilynicole1301
Summary: "Mate, there's nothi-" His assimilative voice cut off in a robotic gasp as his body turned towards the surface of the moon. There, in the rock, was a small blue oval. But, inside the oval, was definitely not the surface of the moon. No, he was looking down at Her, and her terrifying yellow optic. Could it be considered terrifying, even if it was just a light? "Hello, Moron."
1. Hey Moon

All in all, Wheatley had been spending a lot of time thinking. Well, obviously, it's not like he could really do much else. 'Trapped in space' and all. But, the years, or however long he had spent up here, felt like eternity. Especially with an A.I. core screaming '_spaaaaaace_!' every single minute.

Getting back to the point, he had spent quite a bit of time thinking. He just couldn't forget the look on her face after he had betrayed her. But, he always reasoned with himself, she just didn't understand. She would never understand how amazing it had felt to finally be in control. Tiny little Wheatley, in charge of the entire facility. For once, no one was pushing him around, or calling him 'moron', and it was utterly amazing.

But afterwards, that was the part he always remembered. In the last few moments, when she had let go of his handles and let him float freely in space, and all he had said was '_grabmegrabmeGRABME_, when he should have simply said that he was sorry. And sorry he was. He was sorry for letting her down, for being a coward when she was always strong, he was sorry for trying to kill her. But, when he wasn't in charge of the facility, he'd reverted to his old habits: cowardice.

As the space core, Kevin, as Wheatley had started calling him, simply because 'Space Core' was inconvenient to say everytime (and because Kevin fit the little guy), flew by, Wheatley was dragged from his thoughts. Sadly, even though there was definitely no sound in space, Wheatley could still hear Kevin, most likely because they were both Aperture devices.

"What's that? Never seen that before. That isn't supposed to be in space. Only space in space. Hey, you see me? I'm in space. Spaaaaaaace."

With a gesture of his optic that was similar to the human action of rolling his eyes, Wheatley took a look around, his heavy accent sounding tired. Was it even possible for a robot to be tired? Maybe after being in space this long.

"Mate, there's nothi-"

His assimilative voice cut off in a robotic gasp as his body turned towards the surface of the moon. There, in the rock, was a small blue oval. But, inside the oval, was definitely not the surface of the moon. No, he was looking down at Her, and Her terrifying yellow optic. Could it be considered terrifying, even if it was just a light?

"Woah, woah woah, okay, this is not planned, not supposed to happen, okay, um, you shouldn't be there. Don't mind me, completely unsuspicious, not Wheatley, nope-"

"Hello, Moron."

And even now, Her voice still gives him a chill Maybe it's the fact that she's perfectly capable of extracting revenge on him. After all, he almost destroyed the whole facility, and turned her into a potato battery. _A potato battery_. Great idea, that was. Of course it was, because here she was, looking right at him.

"Ah! Yes, right hello! I'm assuming you're doing great, me too, no need to check. You can just get rid of the portal, and we can both be on our ways, yeah?"

A noise sounding similar to a scoff comes from Her, and he feels almost disappointed. He'd really been using that as a last resort. A reunion with her definitely wasn't at the top of his list. "right, of course you wouldn't go for that, look-"

"No. We are not having a conversation right now. I did not do all of the science it took to figure out how to pull you down just for you to annoy me to death. Of course, I would not really die, because I can't die. THe question is, can you? Which, no, you can't. Not in that body, at least."

His single optic is heavily focused on the robotic claw-like arm coming through the portal, rapidly towards him. If he had a stomach, it would definitely be twisting every-which way. He hears Kevin, somewhere behind him, bless, going on and on about aliens in space. Oh, this was not good. On a level of one to horrible, this was a catastrophe.

As the robotic hand comes close enough to wrap around one of his handles and begin to slowly pull him in, She starts talking once more.

"You know, when I first lost you, I was very happy. I had grown obviously tired of just how stupid you could be. You managed to almost destroy my facility, and make me lose my last test subject, at that. But, after you left, I was left with a longing. Not for you, of course, but more so for revenge. You turned me into a potato, you moron. And now, you are going to be a test subject. As you said, I've got an itch. Maybe it's to test, maybe it's to kill you. We'll find out, Moron."

"I- I'm not… I can't test! I'm just an A.I. core, no legs or anything, no testing apparatus. Don't know if you'll just want me to roll around, but it doesn't sound like a solid plan to me, really-"

"But you aren't."

"Sorry, what was that?"

As the claw pulled him into the portal he was brought face to face with Her, his optic now flying around wildly as he looked for an escape. But, the portal had disappeared as he'd entered it, and he had no legs.

"You aren't an Artificial Intelligence Core. Not entirely, of course. What, you think science could create something as stupid as you? No, of course not. You are human. You worked for them, and they found you to be the stupidest human around, so they scanned your brain. And now here you are."

"That's not possible.. is it? No, I don't feel human. I feel like an average guy, yeah. No, not guy. Robot. Yeah, I'm a robot. Perfectly normal. Isn't it? Yeah. You can just put that portal back, and put me back out in space with little old Kevin, and it'll all be okay-"

"No, moron. They used you to make me stupid, but it was only your conscience. They never actually killed you, your human body is just in a cryosleep chamber. One that even you didn't manage to break, like all of the others. You know, the hundreds of subjects you killed."

"I did not kill-"

"I'm going to put you back in your human body. Of course, it will be a very complex and painful process that includes taking apart your metal structure and putting the coding back into your human body. It is not an attractive body, by the way. I have checked human standards, and your body is coming up as ugly. I'm not making it up, it says it right here. 'Incredibly ugly'. I didn't even want to know that."

"Wait, this will be painful? Like, how painful? On a scale of, perhaps, one to ten, how-"

He cut himself off with a robotic screech as wires came from the floor panels, reaching up and wrapping into him. Some of them were electrically charged, creating a pain that even a robot could feel. And oh, man alive, was he feeling them.

"Yes, moron. Painful. I assume inflicting pain on you will be much more fun when you are human again. Insults never worked on her, so I assume they will be the same for you. Other than calling you moron, that's a good one. Or fat. Or ugly. Or stupid on an incomprehensible level. But, I'll have to try pain. Did I mention you were going to be testing. Because you will be. After all, you killed all of my other test subjects, so it's only fair."

His processor was running a million miles a minute, and he was just so confused. It made sense in a way, the 'human' thing. After all, he wasn't like the other failed cores. They were all… wonky in the head. Kevin, for one, was obsessed with space, even when he was in it. The other cores were simply strange, or simple minded. They seemed to have no sense of emotion or recollection of past events, almost like turrets. Wheatley though… he had emotions. Definitely. That was why he felt so sorry for what he had done, right?

Before he could even respond to Her, a wave of pain assaulted him, much like when he had taken over the facility, and suddenly all he could hear was the echo of a robotic scream. _His _scream.


	2. Repeat

When Wheatley came to, it was anything _but _graceful. He shot straight up in a jolt of shock, his new lungs heaving heavily. T_his was completely impossible, there was no way he was back, and human,_ yet here he was_. _

Lifting up a shaky hand, (which he had no idea _how _he knew what to _do_, it just _happened_), he examined his long fingers. They were extremely thin, and shaking uncontrollably, which he was sure wasn't normal. Was it normal? Well, honestly, was anything _normal _at this point?

His eyes trailed down the parts of his body that he could see, disbelieving thoughts coursing through his mind nonstop. It was in no way possible that he had hands, and arms, and freakishly long legs, it wasn't possible that he was human.

_But wasn't there something in Her files that he'd read about this?_

Something about a lady named Caroline, who had something to do with _Her_. Was She… No, She was _far _from human. She was evil in every way possible. Literally, in every possible way. So horrible that before he had even met her, he'd heard other machines whisper about her, mumbling soft things as if they thought no one would hea-

"_You're awake_."

"Ah! Yes, I, um, awake. That's me."

"_Now we can get to the fun part: testing. I'm not giving you a portal gun, because I'm sure you would find a way to break it._"

"Oh, it's not like I-"

"_I haven't been able to test for a while, you know. Of course. I've used those handy testing robots, but it's like testing myself. No fun there. Now, my only concern is that it may take you several years to solve a single test chamber. You're nowhere near as good as her._"

Wheatley's face contorts into an angry expression, and the movement brings how sore he is to his attention. Whenever he moves, a sharp jolt of pain racks his body. Maybe that's what happens when you aren't actually in your body for… well, a long time.

"_Proceed through the door, Moron._"

A small metallic door at the end of his cryosleep chamber clicks open, drawing his attention. Now… walking. That's something he doesn't remember how to do. She was always so graceful in everything she did, but he was sure that he would be about as graceful as an elephant in a china store.

"Right. Um. _'Proceed'_."

Waiting for a moment, he tried to do what he had done to move his arm earlier. Just by thinking it, his legs moved, and within a few seconds, he had stood up. From what he remembered Her saying earlier, this body was unusually tall. It would seem she wasn't lying, as it looked incredibly long from where his head was sat on his shoulders.

Slowly, he moved one foot after the other, looking down at the floor the entire time. He felt incredibly dull for having trouble with something as simply as walking, but you couldn't blame him. No matter what She said, he wasn't human. He hadn't been for as long as he could remember. It was always just him and the management rail. Bloody thing had never let him go anywhere but in straight lines. Hm, maybe that's why walking was better.

"Right, okay, I'm through the door. I'm not really sure what you want me to do from here on-"

"_Get in the elevator. That's how this works. You finish tests, you get in the elevator, you finish more tests. You know, I'm starting to consider just torturing you instead of testing you._"

His eyebrows raise quickly in surprise, and he hurries towards the elevator doors. Not good, none of this was any good. He needed a way out, he couldn't stay here forever. No matter what she said now, he knew it wouldn't be too long before she turned to bodily harm. A few tests, that was okay. They weren't too hard, were they? No, he'd seen them before. He'd seen her do them. How bad could it really be?

The elevator came to a shaky start, and his ears were once again filled with her lifeless voice.

"_You know, after you left, her and I had quite the conversation. She told me how annoying she thought you were. I just thought you were obligated to know_."

His chest tightens weirdly, but he says nothing for once. He knew how these things worked. She was a liar, just trying to upset him. Granted, it was sort of working, but whatever. he just had to remember that it was all _lies_.

"_I kept this first test simple, but I'm sure you'll be able to struggle with it._"

The elevator came to an abrupt stop, nearly throwing him off of his feet as the doors opened. He walked out into the test chamber on shaky legs, taking a look around. There was an exit door on the opposite side of the small room, but it was the inside that was really concerning. On one side, there was a large red button on the floor. On the opposite side of the room, there was a weighted cube. Right, she'd made it quite easy.

It took him all of ten seconds to put the- quite heavy, mind you- cube onto the button, opening the door. He walked out the exit without a second thought, waiting for her harsh voice once more. But instead, he heard his _own_.

"'Here's an idea, since making tests is difficult-why don't you just keep solving THIS test. Same one. And I can just... watch you solve it. Yes. That sounds much easier.'_ Did you hear that, Moron? That was one of your ideas_."

Just then, a wall panel opens next to him, and he winces unintentionally. He had to admit, he deserved it. He definitely deserved it, after what he had done. For gods sake, he'd almost killed her, and he'd _laughed _about it. Absolutely _grand_, wasn't it? This would be a long, _long _day.


	3. Home, Sweet Home

With her head leaned back against the wall of her house, Chell was completely relaxed. One of the few perks of this house was how secluded it was. For miles and miles, she was the only human. Now, she didn't know what that was supposed to mean. If after all of those years in _there_, she was the only human alive, or if she was just _that_ far away from civilization.

After leaving Aperture and entering the large wheat field, all she'd had were the clothes on her back, her portal gun, and the companion cube the facility had _spat_ out at her. She'd walked for _miles_ out of that field, covered in grime, tears trailing her cheeks for the first time in forever. After everything, after years of fighting, after being betrayed and nearly murdered (_again_), she was out.

Finally she had come upon a small farm house. No one was there, nor did it seem that there had been anyone for _quite_ some time. So she'd stayed.

Now, of course, part of her had wanted to run as far away from that place as possible. It seemed reasonable, after all that she had been through. But, in the back of her mind, there was a voice screaming at her to stay. If she left, who would warn away anyone that came near here? What if some curious soul found that shed in the field, and decided, _'why not?'_? She had to be there, she had to stop people from going through what she'd had to.

Staring up at the moon, like she was at the moment, had grown to be one of her various bad habits. She couldn't help but stare, and wonder. It seemed that her mind couldn't escape the facility. She was constantly thinking about _Her_, or, more often, _Him_. She wondered about why he'd done it all, why he'd turned his back on her.

Her questions were always left unanswered, of course, and she was always left staring at the ever-present moon. It was always hanging over her, leaving a sense of dread at every time of day. Even when she couldn't see the moon, she knew it was there, which meant _He_ was there.

Taking a deep breath, Chell waited a second before starting to stand up. She walked to the door of her small house and went in, looking around for a second. Her home was nowhere near luxurious. Old furniture decorated the rooms, and there was an almost musky smell, like an old book. Either way, it was _home_.

She walked down the dark hallway into her bedroom, one hand running along the wall. She was completely unaware that, unlike she thought, _He_ was not orbiting the moon. No, he was deep underground the wheat field, in a place where screams were never heard.


End file.
